Health Problems Caused by Smoking

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English.  Im Faith Lapidus.  And I'm Bob Doughty.

This week, we talk about smoking – the leading cause of cancer worldwide.

Barack Obama completed his first routine physical examination as President of the United States
last week.  Doctors reported that Mr. Obama is in excellent health.  They say all evidence suggests
that he will remain so during his presidency.

The doctors gave the president suggestions so that he can stay healthy.  One is for him to continue
with efforts to stop smoking.  Mr. Obama has spoken publicly about those efforts in the past.  The
new report shows his battle against smoking is continuing.

President Obama is not alone.  More than one billion people around the world are smokers. 
Health experts have been warning about links between smoking and disease for years.

Smoking kills an estimated five million people worldwide every year.  Experts say smoking is the
leading cause of preventable death.  And, it is the second leading cause of death, after cancer.

Smoking is also the leading cause of cancer.  Experts say forty percent of cancers could be
prevented by avoiding health risks like smoking and tobacco use.

Smoking also causes forty-two percent of cases of chronic respiratory disease, including asthma,
bronchitis and emphysema.  And, it causes ten percent of cardiovascular diseases, like heart
disease and stroke.

The medical research community is continually reporting reasons why smokers should stop.  A
recent study found that people who smoke are nearly two times as likely as non-smokers to
develop Alzheimers disease.  Alzheimers weakens or destroys memory and reasoning.

In the study, researchers examined forty-three published studies about the link between
Alzheimers disease and smoking.  They found that smoking increased the risk of Alzheimers
developing by one and seven-tenths percent.  The researchers work at the University of California
in San Francisco.  Their findings were published in the Journal of Alzheimers Disease.

In an earlier study, seven thousand people were observed for an average of seven years.   Each
person was fifty-five years or older.  Those who smoked were fifty percent more likely to develop
memory loss than those who never smoked, or who had quit.

Other research has linked smoking to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.  ALS is a deadly disease
affecting the motor nerves and the voluntary muscles.  Last year, a study in the medical journal
Neurology found smoking to be an established risk factor in developing the disease.  Some of the
evidence even suggested smoking may be directly responsible for ALS.

Smoking also increases the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration.  AMD is the
leading cause of blindness among adults fifty and older.  Research has shown AMD is two to three
times more common among smokers than other people.

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A recent study examined how smoking affects a persons risk of AMD later in life.  Researchers at
the University of California in Los Angeles studied nearly two thousand women.

Four percent of the women were smokers.  Each woman had pictures of her retinas taken at age
seventy-eight.  The researchers compared these retinal images with pictures taken five years later
when the women were eighty-three.  They studied the pictures for signs of AMD and to see
whether smoking influenced the womens chances of developing the disease.

The women who smoked had an eleven percent higher rate of AMD than the other women.   In
women over eighty, those who smoked were five and a half times more likely to develop AMD
than the women who did not smoke.  A report on the study was published in the American Journal
of Ophthalmology.

People who smoke are not only hurting themselves.  They also can harm non-smokers.  The World
Health Organization estimates that secondhand smoke kills six hundred thousand people each
year.

The International Union Against Cancer says about seven hundred million children breathe smoke-
filled air.  Expectant mothers who smoke are more likely to have babies with health problems and
low birth weight.  Such babies may suffer health problems as they grow.

Even after all the warnings, the WHO says one billion three hundred million people still smoke.  
The number of smokers is expected to grow to one billion seven hundred million by twenty
twenty-five.  Smoking rates have decreased in the United States and Europe.  But rates have risen
in other areas.

WHO officials say eighty-four percent of all smokers live in developing countries.  Nations in the
Western Pacific Ocean have the highest smoking rates.  One-third of all smokers live in East Asia
and the Pacific.  The area has the largest number of male smokers.  It also has the fastest growing
number of female and child smokers.  Every day, diseases linked to tobacco use kill more than
three thousand people in the area.

Scientists have found more than four thousand chemicals in cigarette smoke.  At least two
hundred fifty of them are known to be harmful.  And, fifty have been found to cause cancer.  They
include arsenic, which can be used to kill plants and small animals.  Cigarette smoke also contains
formaldehyde – a liquid used to protect the look of dead bodies.

As bad as those chemicals are, nicotine may be the most threatening of them all.   Nicotine is a
poison found in tobacco.  It gives smokers pleasure and keeps them coming back for more.

The body grows to depend on nicotine.  Studies have found that nicotine can be as difficult to
resist as alcohol or the drug cocaine.  Experts say nicotine can kill a person when taken in large
amounts.  It does this by stopping the muscles used for breathing.

Menthol cigarettes are said to be no safer than other tobacco products.  Menthol cigarettes
produce a cool feeling in the smokers throat.  This may cause people to hold the smoke in their
lungs longer than smokers of other products.  As a result, scientists suspect that menthol
cigarettes may be even more dangerous than other cigarettes.

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Some smokers believe that cigarettes with low tar levels are safer.  Tar is a substance produced
when tobacco leaves are burned.  It is known to cause cancer.  America's National Cancer Institute
has said that people who smoke low-tar cigarettes do not reduce their risk of getting diseases
linked to smoking.

So is there any way to smoke without harming your health?  The majority of available research
suggests not.  Smoking even a few cigarettes can be dangerous.  But, many of the harmful effects
of smoking ARE reversible.  They can be undone.  That is why most medical experts advise people
to stop smoking forever.

The American Cancer Society says blood pressure returns to normal twenty minutes after the last
cigarette.  Carbon monoxide levels in the blood return to normal after eight hours.  The chance of
heart attack decreases after one day.  After one year, the risk of heart disease for a non-smoker is
half that of a smoker.

There are many products available to help people reduce their dependence on cigarettes.  
Nicotine replacement products provide the body with small amounts of the chemical through
forms other than cigarettes.  The amounts of nicotine are slowly reduced over time.

Chantix and Zyban are two prescription medicines that have also been shown to help smokers
quit.  They do not contain nicotine.  Chantix works on nicotine receptors in the brain to reduce the
urge to smoke.  Zyban works by increasing levels of dopamine in the brain.  Dopamine is a
chemical that produces pleasure.

People who have quit smoking offer this helpful advice to those who want to stop.  Stay away from
alcohol.  Take a walk instead of smoking.  And, avoid people who are smoking.  If possible, stay
away from situations that trouble you.  It is not easy to quit smoking.  And, people never can
completely control their own health.  But as one doctor advises her patients, becoming a non-
smoker is one way to gain control of your life.

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by June Simms.  Brianna Blake was our producer.  Im Faith
Lapidus.  And I'm Bob Doughty.  Join us again next week for more news about Science in Special
English on the Voice of America.

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 Food Safety After a Flood

Food that has come in contact with floodwaters can sicken anyone who eats it. Water from floods may
contain animal and human waste. It can also contain other pollutants like chemicals from agriculture and
industry.

After a flood, food safety specialists at the United States Department of Agriculture have this advice:

Throw away anything that is not stored in a waterproof container if there was a chance of contact. Food
containers that are not waterproof include those with screw caps, snap lids, pull tops and crimped caps.

Also, throw away boxes of juice, milk or baby formula if they have come into contact with floodwater.

The Department of Health in the state of Minnesota says you should throw away anything in soft packaging.
And the Extension Service at North Dakota State University offers other advice:

Do not save plastic bags of food even if boxes or containers inside the bags appear dry.

Do not eat fresh produce from the garden if it has come in contact with floodwater. To be safe, have the soil
tested.

And throw away screw-topped or crimp-topped jars and bottles even if they have never been opened.

Glass jars and bottles of home-canned foods should be thrown out as well. Experts say the containers cannot
be effectively cleaned after a flood.

Throw away damaged metal cans or hard plastic containers. Do not use cans that are swollen or leaking, or
that are rusted or crushed.

But food safety experts say that some unopened, undamaged all-metal cans can be saved. First, remove any
labels. The paper may contain dirt and germs from the floodwater. Wash the cans with soap and water, and
brush or wipe away dirt. Use hot water and water that is safe for drinking if they are available.

Next, place the cans again in water and heat the water to one hundred degrees Celsius. Boil the cans for two
minutes.

Another way to disinfect the cans is in a freshly made solution of chlorine bleach. Use eight drops of
unscented liquid bleach for every four liters of water. Use drinking water or the cleanest, clearest water
available. Place the cans in the solution for fifteen minutes.

Let sanitized cans air-dry for at least one hour before opening or storing them. And relabel the cans with a
marking pen to list their contents and any dates when the foods are best used by. Experts advise using the
cans as soon as possible.

And that’s the VOA Special English Development Report. You can read, download and comment on our
reports at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Fritzi Bodenheimer.